GP & J Baker | Posy

Posy is a small sprigged print from the House Small Prints II book, worked up from a GP & J Baker archive document. The little bunched flowerhead sits on an open ground and repeats every 14.5 centimetres, which is the scale at which a floral stops being a floral statement and starts behaving like a warm, broken texture. It is the sort of paper that makes a small room feel considered rather than decorated, and it does not fight a rug or a curtain print that is already in the scheme.

Printed on a 100 per cent non-woven ground, 52 centimetres wide, with a 14.5 centimetre vertical repeat. Four colourways: Blue, Green/Aqua, Green/Red, Ochre/Blue. Blue is the calmest and the one we reach for most often in a bedroom. Green/Aqua is fresher and holds up well in a room with a lot of daylight. Green/Red and Ochre/Blue are the two with real colour contrast, and they want a plain floor and simple curtains underneath them.

We use sprigs like this in bedrooms, bathrooms and box rooms, and above panelling in a hall where a big pattern would feel too much. It is also a sensible paper for the back of a glazed dresser or a shallow alcove. Hang it with a soft off-white on the ceiling and woodwork in a colour drawn from the ground rather than the flower. Sold by the roll; order a sample before committing to a full room.

It is a paste-the-wall paper, so the paste goes onto the plaster and the dry length goes straight up. Allow an extra repeat per drop for matching and keep a spare roll back for the cut-ins around a window reveal, which is where the waste always ends up. A four metre wall at 2.6 metres high needs eight drops, which comes to three rolls of the usual 10 metres. Check every roll carries the same batch number before you start cutting.

• Composition: 100% non-woven
• Roll width: 52 cm (20.4 in)
• Pattern repeat: 14.5 cm vertical
• Care: Spongeable; follow the manufacturer's hanging guide
• Collection: House Small Prints II Wallpaper, GP & J Baker
• Colourways: 4 (Blue, Green/Aqua, Green/Red, Ochre/Blue)